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New Zealand: Isolation shouldn't stop us from caring

As an editor at Fairplanet I write frequently about the international migration crisis. 52 million people are displaced in our world right now, the highest number since World War Two.

But it’s not very often I get to write about the response to asylum seekers in my own country, New Zealand. Now seems like a good opportunity.

There is something totally disproportionate about New Zealanders fearing a boatload of asylum seekers arriving on our shores. It would take an incredible feat of seamanship to reach our country on the rickety boats asylum seekers have typically used to cross from Indonesia to Australia. It simply does not happen.

And yet this is a fear our Prime Minister John Key plays on whenever the opportunity arises.

Australia’s Stop the Boats campaign prevents any asylum seekers arriving by boat from ever reaching the nation, instead being turned back by military personnel or detained in offshore processing centres in other countries like Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

So last week when 65 asylum seekers, mainly Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis, were stopped in Australian waters, they said they were attempting to reach not Australia, but New Zealand. They are now being detained in West Timor, and have circulated photographs and a letter asking our government for help.

In order to process an asylum seeker’s application, they have to reach your country, so New Zealand is not obliged to help these desperate people. But John Key took the opportunity to stir up fear, telling the New Zealand public that this boat had a credible chance of making it all the way to our shores.

In fact, the boat became shipwrecked shortly after the Australian army intercepted it, and the people on board had to be rescued before they were detained.

If anything, the media coverage of asylum seeker boats struggling in the Mediterranean provides our government with ample material to propagate the idea that the international migration crisis will have a detrimental effect on New Zealand’s population as well.

But the real chance of our nation being bombarded with boats is unbelievably low, which leaves us in a privileged position to decide for ourselves what we can do to help.

There is growing support for doubling New Zealand’s refugee quota, which accepts refugees through the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) program. We currently accept 750 refugees per year, a shamefully low number which sees us ranked 87th in the world for refugee resettlement per capita.

As New Zealanders we tend to take the moral high ground on international issues, but it is our isolation that allows us to do this. How often does an international crisis show up on our doorstep? If it happens, it certainly doesn’t arrive by boat.

Next month our country will take on the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, an excellent opportunity to set an example in the international community.

Let’s double that quota while we have the chance.

05.Jun

June 05th, 2015

"Kill the Indian in the child"

EDITOR:

Ama Lorenz

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) just released a new report about Canada’s residential schools. That itself may not seem interesting. But the system of these 130 schools - operated across Canada from the 19th Century until the 1996 - was very perfidious. Canadian aboriginals were required to attend these state-funded church schools for an inhuman reason. More than 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were taken from their families and placed in these schools, in order to "kill the Indian in the child". According to TRC’s study "these measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will."

Already on June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology to the former students of Canada’s Indian residential school system, calling it a “sad chapter in our history.” That chapter is part of a broader story: one in which the Canadian government gained control over Aboriginal land and peoples, disrupted Aboriginal governments and economies, and sought to repress Aboriginal cultures and spiritual practices.

TRC chair Justice Murray Sinclair said even more than 6,000 residential school students died.Most were buried in unmarked graves on school property. The group made 94 recommendations for how to reconcile the injustices, including anti-racism training for Canadian public servants. But what does in the TRC report proposed reconciliation mean for survivors?

In the BBC article Survivors of Canada's 'cultural genocide' still healing survivors like Joseph Maud, who was separated from his family in the age of five in 1996 talk about their experiences. He remembers, when he would wet the bed, his nun in charge of his dormitory would rub his face in his own urine. "It was very degrading, humiliating. Because I'm sleeping in a dormitory with 40 other boys," he says. "It's bringing tears to my eyes right now just thinking about it."

The legacy of the residential school system remains today, as many Canadian aboriginals struggle to recover from generations of family separation. Aboriginals account for less than 5 percent of Canada's population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians, and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.

Image: First Nation Canada, arthurbrasileiro.com.br

04.Jun

June 04th, 2015

A red carpet for human rights violations

EDITOR:

Nurcan Özdemir

He is an uncomfortable guest. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi´s two-day visit to Berlin had been controversially discussed before his arrival in the German capital on wednesday.

The former army chief has been under fire for the lack of progress in Egypt’s transition to democracy, a high number of death penalties and his brutal persecution of Muslim Brotherhood, demonstrators and journalists after seizing power by force in July 2013. According to reports of international human rights organizations the situation in Egypt is even worse than it was under former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

All that seemed forgotten when German President Joachim Gauck welcomed al-Sisi with full military honors at Berlin's Bellevue Palace. The following press conference with chancellor Angela Merkel however ended in a scandal when a female reporter loudly called al-Sisi a Nazi, a fascist, a murderer. She was immediately removed by security while Egyptian journalists wearing buttons with al-Sisi´s portray almost collectively jumped up shouting „Long live Egypt!“ over and over.

Shortly before the visit several human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had addressed a joint letter to the German chancellor urging her to address human rights violations.

Merkel did - even though restrainedly - by denoting the more than 742 death sentences under al-Sisi as something that „needed to be avoided“.

Al-Sisi said he respected Germany´s perspective but wants Egypt´s „own perspective“ to be respected equally. Adding that „our constitution is more than hundred years old. We respect judiciary and cannot question the rule of law.“ How comfortable to see it that way.

The man who served as the chief counter-terrorism adviser to George W Bush gave an interview this week in which he agreed that the former President, along with Dick Cheney, had committed war crimes.

"I think things that they authorized probably fall within the area of war crimes," said Richard Clarke.

The interview served as a reminder of something which may have passed under many a radar: Bush, along with seven members of his administration, were found guilty of war crimes by a Malaysian court in 2012.

"Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia.

"At the end of the week-long hearing, the five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered guilty verdicts against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their key legal advisors who were all convicted as war criminals for torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment."

It is unclear whether the International Criminal Court would pursue this ruling, although it is certainly within its mandate.

Clarke himself isn't sold on the idea: "Whether that would be productive or not, I think, is a discussion we could all have."

The Washington Post is pointing out that human rights advocates had predicted scenarios of death and modern slavery if Qatar started building the infrastructure to host the Cup.

According to a Guardian investigation last year every second day a Nepalese migrant worker was dying on a Qatari construction. The death toll of workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh in Qatar were at 964 in 2012 and 2013. And, these horrible numbers are likely to increase: A report by the International Trade Union Confederation has estimated 1,200 deaths so far, with up to 4,000 additional worker deaths by 2022.

So far 1.2 million migrant workers are in Qatar, another million is to be expected until 2022. According to Sharan Burrow from the ITUC these migrants are essentially slaves.

Against this background the statement from a Qatari spokesman appears as a bad, cynical joke: “The health, safety, wellbeing and dignity of every worker that contributes to staging the 2022 Fifa World Cup is of the utmost importance to our committee and we are committed to ensuring that the event serves as a catalyst toward creating sustainable improvements to the lives of all workers in Qatar.”

With the FIFA, corrupt and reckless as it appears, and a Qatari governance, that obviously doesn't care, modern slavery and dying workers will continue to being accounted as a sort of collateral damage of realising a World Cup.

Shouldn't then perimeter ads in Qatari World Cup stadiums indicating how many lives were lost by building them?

How much would you pay for a bag of weed? Not a huge bag, just enough for you and the weekend ahead. 10 Euros? 20? How about for a gram of black tar heroin? About a 100 Euros? Or perhaps you’d like to pay in bitcoins? Be my guest. And just to sweeten the deal, let me tell you, you won’t even have to leave the comfort of your desk to acquire your choice; no hanging around a dark alley, just go to the Silk Road website on the Dark Web, and shop away! You’ll even have customer reviews to guide you in your purchase.

Ulbricht, 31, was sentenced to five sentences of varying length, two of which were life sentences. Judge Katherine Forrest was relentless in her verdict, claiming that Ulbricht and the numerous pleas for his defence (some of which came from external petitions) were in a privileged position, and that the claim that the site reduced drug-related violence on the streets, was not only unfounded but grossly incorrect. Forrest also referred to the extent to which drugs are linked to the development of third-world countries, in which the growth and manufacture of drugs causes immense problems, the least of which is violence.

The case brings together drugs, the law, debate and the internet together in an important intersection. Many people take an anarchist (or at least libertarian) view when it comes to drugs, claiming that the government should have no right to regulate substances or even health information. Conversely, more traditional views state that drugs have no place in our society.

That’s because drugs still challenge our social values; they are a kind of avant garde, in this way, standing in direct opposition to what we claim to believe. What’s more, the debate is changing; when we ask about the status and regulation of drugs (and the rehabilitation process of former users), we’re no longer solely discussing the local-level of drug dealing and consumption; we’re discussing the way in which users can anonymously participate in the industry.

Whether you are ‘for’ or ‘against’ drugs, you will concede that along the line of production, someone gets hurt. As Judge Forrest suggested, normally these people are hidden – they are in third-world countries, with no recourse to the law or international justice. Yes, governments and police are often heavy-handed and in some cases prejudiced about petty-criminals, but it doesn’t entail that drugs are therefore not a problem.

To further complicate this issue, the reality is that Silk Road was only one such site. It has spawned many copycat sites, some with fewer security measures to protect users. One of the reasons why Ulbricht received such heavy sentences was because the law is the part of this equation that simply cannot keep up with the way Webs work. That’s probably one of the motivations for showing no leniency; to set an example to others.

But this example is not going to solve the problem; it doesn’t address the problems of privilege inherent in the drug process, nor does it highlight the invisible victims in drugs manufacture. By selling drugs on the Dark Web, it may be possible to circumvent government interference into one’s patterns of consumption, but it also renders less visible the victims of drugs production: people in countries where they are produced.

Image: Silk Road/ The Guardian

29.May

May 29th, 2015

The #PeopleVsOil

EDITOR:

Ama Lorenz

This week, Greenpeace Canada started an unprecedented journey on the shores of Vancouver. Six representatives of the Canadian First Nation are sailing the first time ever together onboard the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza. It is remarkable as their goal is to support and connect coastal communities opposing pipelines and super tankers to the seven-million-strong global movement against Arctic oil drilling.

Taylor George-Hollis from the Squamish Nation, Candace Campo from the Shíshálh Nation, Audrey Siegl from the Musqueam Nation, Victor Thompson from the Haida Nation, Robert Holler from the Anishinabe Nation and videographer Mike Auger from the Woodland Cree Nation in Alberta follow the Greenpeace call "It’s time to say yes to people, not to oil".

Oil spills, leaking supertankers and environmental destruction are not forgotten - neither the climate change that accelerates the melt of the Arctic. According to the Vancouver Observer: Shell Oil is investing billions of dollars in the Arctic, and says the polar region contains 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil, and 40 per cent of its yet-to-be-found natural gas.

In Alaska, Shell proposes to drill into a sea bed 42 metres below the waves at a drill site 112 kilometres from the village of Wainwright, using its drill ship, Noble Discoverer, and submersible Transocean Polar Pioneer.

“Every single person on this planet is powerful and when we each understand and embrace our inherent power, we can change anything. What happens to the planet happens to each of us. So, let’s join hands with every single human to change things now,” says Victor Thompson from the Haida Nation on Canadian greenpeace.org.

As activists and ordinary people have been protesting Arctic drilling all around the world the movement is growing everyday, incorporating new voices as those of the First Nation representatives. For a good reason: Most severely affected and threatened by oil developments are the coastal First Nations of British Columbia. That’s why this summer the West Coast is having a leading voice in the global opposition to Big Oil.

For ten days, Greenpeace will sail the Esperanza to B.C. coastal communities such as Haida Gwaii to inform about the increased oil spill risks to the province's coastline and to oppose Arctic oil tankers.

Photo: Greenpeace.org

28.May

May 28th, 2015

Russia's undesirables: Putin signs Anti-NGO-law

EDITOR:

Nurcan Özdemir

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a controversial law allowing authorities to shut down foreign and international organizations if they are deemed „undesirable“ without court proceedings.

Under the wide-ranging law, non-governmental organizations posing „a threat“ to Russia's constitutional order, its defenses or its security, can be blacklisted without warning. Employees as well as people being involved in listed NGO´s risk high financial penalties, restrictions on movement or imprisonment of up to six years.

Sergej Nikitin, Amnesty Russia, and Tatjana Lokschina, Human Rights Watch, confirmed to carry on with their work regardless the law.

The law is being harshly criticized by the US also, declared as an attempt to further isolate and discredit members of civil society who are critical of the government. In a statement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "deeply troubled" by the new law, calling it "a further example of the Russian government's growing crackdown on independent voices and intentional steps to isolate the Russian people from the world."

Russian non-governmental organizations have already been pressured or shut down by laws being passed in recent years, especially those which receive foreign funding. A 2012 law branded groups receiving foreign financing to be registered as “foreign agents.” About 60 organizations have been officially listed in that category.

27.May

May 27th, 2015

Mass migrant graves found in Malaysia

EDITOR:

Vanessa Ellingham

Mass graves possibly holding hundreds of migrants have been found along in Malaysia, as nearby villagers describe an increasing number of migrants stumbling into their village, totally lost.

Residents of Wang Kelian, a Malaysian village close to the Thai border, have reported meeting migrants in shops or in the street who appear not to know which country they have been dropped off in, after emerging from the nearby jungle.

And this week mass graves were discovered there, including 140 grave sites with the possibility of multiple corpses lying inside each one.

Malaysian officials have finally been forced to admit they knew of the camps, although they say they had not previously taken action as they had still been collecting intelligence.

But at what price?

Anti-trafficking groups say the discovery is of no surprise to them, as evidence of their existence has been discussed for at least a decade.

Last year the US State Department's annual anti human-trafficking report listed Malaysia among the worst-ranked countries for stopping the illegal trade.

The last month has seen a huge uptick in the number of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar and Thailand. The indigenous people, who number more than 1 million, are unrecognised and unwelcome in both states.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny hailed the vote, saying that “a majority of people in this republic have stood up for [gay people]”. He said: “In the privacy of the ballot box, the people made a public statement. With today’s vote we have disclosed who we are. We are a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people who say yes to inclusion, yes to generosity, yes to love, yes to gay marriage.”

Only one of Ireland’s 43 constituencies voted no to same-sex marriage, and the landslide confounded pollsters and experts alike who had long predicted an urban/ rural divide; supposing metropolitan communities would be much more amenable to changing the law than communities in the countryside. It seems that levelling-out marriage laws is popular across the nation.

While Dublin’s gay area was alive with spontaneous gatherings and parties and social media rifled in messages of support, the same question arose in other quarters; what’s the point of legalising same-sex marriage? Even secular bloggers have been stumped by the question – if marriage is traditionally a religious institution, why would the gay community wish to participate in it? Also, what difference does it make these days; marriage doesn’t mean anything – you could just cohabit, etc.

The author proposes an answer: even if marriage doesn’t have the same significance as it (supposedly) did in times gone by, by making same-sex marriage legal, a nation accords equal status to all citizens. It recognises the full humanity of all of its citizens by enabling them to participate in the social institutions recognised by peers as somehow significant. It doesn’t matter if marriage doesn’t mean what it used to mean; it matters that it means the same thing for all of us.